A recession success story...

mitchaa

I mentioned last week that we put our house up for sale recently. Well yesterday we received and accepted an offer of £247,500 Was on for £255k so not bad.

The success story is, is that we bought it in the 1st half of 2007 for £215k so highlights the fact that not everyone has suffered during this recession (Mods i've highlighted the word recession to keep it here )

Anyway, enough of the gloating of my luck, It's come as a little surprise selling so quickly and now we're a little stuck on what to do next?

The wife was left £100k in a will a couple of months ago, and we have £170k or thereabouts left on the mortgage with about £20k in savings. ERC is 3% which is a bit of a pain as i dont just like throwing money away.

Now, because of the increase in that time compared to the falls in the majority of other areas, I truly believe now that Aberdeen and its shire are in for a period of long long stagnation. I dont think prices will drop that much from here on in, but then again I dont expect prices to rise by all that much so perhaps renting for a while is an option

My wife on the other hand wants to go head first right back into buying, and has already been looking, couple on her short list...

http://www-n.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/public/LiveProperty/274762?ID=MCGJLMNB#picture

http://www-n.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/public/LiveProperty/273592?ID=MCGJLMNB#picture

http://www-n.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/public/LiveProperty/273514?ID=MCGJLMNB#picture

I'm just not sure on whether to get right back in there or move into rental for a while? It's not about money, I really couldn't give a monkeys what 'profit' or 'drop' the next property will have. If my thoughts on long stagnation for the area come true then it makes it even less of an issue.

Fit day eh day, as they would say in Aberdonian? (I suspect my wife will win regardless to what i say but always worth a 2nd opinion)

Graham_Devon

mitchaa wrote: »

I mentioned last week that we put our house up for sale recently. Well yesterday we received and accepted an offer of £247,500 Was on for £255k so not bad.

The success story is, is that we bought it in the 1st half of 2007 for £215k so highlights the fact that not everyone has suffered during this recession (Mods i've highlighted the word recession to keep it here )

Why is this a success story?

You now need to buy another place, which has also gone up in price.

You are no better off. The profit you have made is going to be taken instantly by buying another house which has increased in price.

As for the rest of the post, I don't see why you are asking the question. Read your own post history which says prices will keep going up etc.

Thrugelmir

So why not downsize and have a minimal mortgage?

Whilst you have made a profit. Reinvesting the profit plus the inheritance into a more expensive property merely increases the exposure to risk.

A £170,000 mortgage isn't something to be sitting on for the longer term.

mitchaa

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Why is this a success story?

You now need to buy another place, which has also gone up in price.

You are no better off. The profit you have made is going to be taken instantly by buying another house which has increased in price.

As for the rest of the post, I don't see why you are asking the question. Read your own post history which says prices will keep going up etc.

I suppose I would class it as a success story because im not in negative equity, nor would I have been had I not been overpaying the mortgage. (My LTV was 97% in 2007) Im sure you would agree the majority who took out similar deals would now be in some sort of bother?

As to your 2nd part, No, I do not believe prices will keep going up. (Read my post again Graham)

System

Those places are all lovely, you're like me, buy something that's already decorated to a high standard rather than get your own hands dirty

I'd bite someones hand off for a chance to live in one of those tbh, just do it, renting sucks.

Did you make any improvements to your old place to get that profit?

baileysbattlebus

mitchaa wrote: »

I mentioned last week that we put our house up for sale recently. Well yesterday we received and accepted an offer of £247,500 Was on for £255k so not bad.

The success story is, is that we bought it in the 1st half of 2007 for £215k so highlights the fact that not everyone has suffered during this recession (Mods i've highlighted the word recession to keep it here )

Anyway, enough of the gloating of my luck, It's come as a little surprise selling so quickly and now we're a little stuck on what to do next?

The wife was left £100k in a will a couple of months ago, and we have £170k or thereabouts left on the mortgage with about £20k in savings. ERC is 3% which is a bit of a pain as i dont just like throwing money away.

Now, because of the increase in that time compared to the falls in the majority of other areas, I truly believe now that Aberdeen and its shire are in for a period of long long stagnation. I dont think prices will drop that much from here on in, but then again I dont expect prices to rise by all that much so perhaps renting for a while is an option

My wife on the other hand wants to go head first right back into buying, and has already been looking, couple on her short list...

http://www-n.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/public/LiveProperty/274762?ID=MCGJLMNB#picture

http://www-n.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/public/LiveProperty/273592?ID=MCGJLMNB#picture

http://www-n.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/public/LiveProperty/273514?ID=MCGJLMNB#picture

I'm just not sure on whether to get right back in there or move into rental for a while? It's not about money, I really couldn't give a monkeys what 'profit' or 'drop' the next property will have. If my thoughts on long stagnation for the area come true then it makes it even less of an issue.

Fit day eh day, as they would say in Aberdonian? (I suspect my wife will win regardless to what i say but always worth a 2nd opinion)

Well done on the house sale - it's nice to get a bit of good news.

The houses are really nice - but I notice they are all offers over - how much typically is "over" expected to be now? Or is it really open to offers or even offers under - bearing in mind you accepted slightly less on your house than the asking price.

Do you still have shell out for your own survey or does the vendor provide a survey for potential purchasers. When we lived in Scotland this was the part of "offers over" I didn't like. I knew lots of people who lost lots of money on surveys for properties they were out bid on.

2 of the houses I wouldn't look at - no on site parking or garaging. Residents parking for me is definite no, it can be quite problematic, I feel the same about shared driveways. So for me, although 2 of houses are really very nice - it would have to be the detached one - because of the parking.

I know what you mean about your wife - I am a wife and in all things housing I get my own way too. I think for OH they have been somewhere to have your dinner and go to sleep. My son is just the same, not bothered.

Anyway good luck with the house hunting - I guess it doesn't really matter if you buy or rent - you just have to make your best guess at what will happen to prices and live with your decision.

BenL

Is that it all signed and sealed then? I am not up on the Scottish system and its differences.

When an offer is made and accepted all the mortgage offer, deposit, survey etc all been done and proven?

Super news for you!

StevieJ

Mitch is going STR :eek: will we start seeing some bearish posts probably come back with an AE.

lostinrates

Cingrtulations Mitchaa.

What sort of property ar you looking for next?

Jonbvn

Congrats on the sale. If you are like me, then you have little chance of overcoming your OH's nesting instinct and will have to buy.

I would always go for the detached property (No. 2) over the town houses, since we are noisy b*ggers.

mitchaa

Thrugelmir wrote: »

So why not downsize and have a minimal mortgage?

Whilst you have made a profit. Reinvesting the profit plus the inheritance into a more expensive property merely increases the exposure to risk.

A £170,000 mortgage isn't something to be sitting on for the longer term.

We are only 26, so not ready to downsize for a good 40yrs yet. The wife has another 2 children planned for the future so need a nice family home. Not that we didn't have 1 before, but it was time to move on as we needed to start thinking about schooling catchment areas etc and being stuck out in the sticks leaves you with restricted choices. Its also a bug*er having to get in your car just to go and buy a newspaper.

Looking at maximum of £400k, minus the £100k inheritance - £77k equity - £20k in savings, leaves us with borrowings of around £215k or so, so pretty much where we started off meaning our monthly premiums should actually go down rather than where they are at the moment. (Better LTV)

In Scotland when an offer is made, it is legally binding so yes pretty much done and dusted. The offers over system is a little confusing just now, it used to be 20% over the OO price. We had our house valued at £255k and the EA advised us to put it on the market for OO £255k to try and get close to it as possible. Yesterday morning we received an offer of £240k, refused and said the minimum we would go to was £250k, they counter offered with £247.5k and that was that, took about an hour all in. (Would have dropped to £245k if they'd pushed)

We needed a home report to sell yes and this included the valuation for the buyer. When/If we buy again, we would not need to fork out for a valuation on the new property as its covered in the sellers home report and is good enough for all the mortgage lenders. Although it's a pain in the !!!! at £500 or so, it saves the hassle of numerous valuations. Not sure if it's the same in England? I heard you have home reports but you need an independent valuation carried out by the mortgage company?

We are pleased but it looks like a xmas move, bloody typical.